2014 NFL Draft Player Profiles – North Carolina DE Kareem Martin

By Alex Kozora

Our focus has shifted to the offseason and for the next few months, I’ll be providing scouting reports on several draft prospects. Some of these players the Pittsburgh Steelers may look at and others will be top players that will be off the board before they select. All to make you as prepared as possible for the 2014 NFL Draft. A look at North Carolina defensive end Kareem Martin.

Kareem Martin/DE North Carolina: 6’5/7 272

The Good

– Monstrous frame with a lot of room to grow

– Fantastic length and big hands (35 inch arms, 10 inch hands)

– Quite the athlete for his size (4.72 40, 35.5 vert) who flashes it on the field

– Times where he looks dominant

– Relatively agile for his size

– Gets proper hand placement in his bull rushes and shows some strength

– Good motor, works hard to get the QB and doesn’t quit on plays

– Ability to stack “plus” plays

– Productive and a big senior campaign

– Durable, no major injuries

– Loads of starting experience

– Versatility, played at both end spots, and in three down lineman fronts

The Bad

– Extremely raw as a pass rusher

– Does not use hands well, need to be much more active

– Little to no repertoire

– Liability against the run, lacks functional upper body strength

– Struggled mightily against run heavy, power scheme teams

– Easily washed and sealed

– Fails to stay square to his block

– Lacks hip flexibility, stiff around the edge

– Big sack numbers in just one year

– Didn’t appear to have much experience dropping into coverage

– Best fit at next level?

Other

– 41 career starts for the Tar Heels

– 2013: 78 tackles, 20 TFL, 11 sacks

– Career: 174 tackles, 45 TFL, 19 sacks

– First team All-ACC as a senior and second team All-ACC as a junior

– Senior year of high school: 25 TFL, 10 FF, 4 sacks

Tape Breakdown

Martin’s 2013 numbers may look gaudy but this is a case of the stats and the tape not really matching up.

Physically, Martin is a player who you’d want to be one of the first to come off the bus. Looks the part with a set of long arms. Uses them well, too. Understands hand placement and works to get them extended in both phases.

Still shot of him getting his arms into the pads of the left tackle while bull rushing. Doesn’t have a ton of upper body strength but it’s that asset which allows him to collapse the pocket.

Shows similar against the run. Gets his arms extended into the left tackle, blows him back, and forces the running back to bounce the play to the outside.

Does keep working hard as a pass rusher here and eventually counters to bring down the QB.

Over the course of two drives in that BC game, Martin had two sacks and knocked the right tackle on his butt in a separate instance. Guy that gets on a roll and stacks positive plays.

He’s a pass rushing paradox. Sack numbers are big, ranked in the top ten at the FBS level as a senior, but he isn’t a special pass rusher. Just doesn’t have any moves. From what I observed, some of his sacks were “gimmies”. Example being unblocked on this zone read against Miami.

His statistically most impressive game came against Pitt, recording 3.5 sacks. Though I didn’t watch it in full, he was aided by some poor line play from the Panthers. One sack came as a result of a stunt not being picked up as well as it could. Another came from the quarterback being flushed out of the pocket, giving Martin a clean route to bring him down. The Tar Heels caught Pitt on a bad day, sacking Tom Savage seven times.

Granted, all pass rushers are going to snag a couple of “gimmie” splash plays but it serves as a reminder statistics don’t always tell the whole story.

For a player that is stiff with inactive hands, he’s going to struggle to generate pressure at the next level. His sophomore and junior season totals of four sacks each feels more in line of the type of player you’re getting.

Was excited to watch the Boston College game because Martin would be facing a pro-offense. One that runs a ton of power schemes (Power O, Counter OF) and a true indicator of how strong and how well against the run Martin would fair.

He failed. Miserably.

Lacks upper body strength and repeatedly knocked down.

Working as the right end, #95.

Doesn’t do a good job staying square to blocks either. Fails to use his hands so he can stack and shed. A major reason why he’s susceptible to getting turned and washed. Still shots of him taking on this trap block from the left guard. Turns his shoulder into the block and gets sealed to the inside without much issue.

Wasn’t just a bad game either. Tight end seals and drives Martin against Miami.

From a Steelers’ fan perspective, this was my most burning question. Don’t envision him standing up full-time at OLB. Too tall and stiff to consistently be asked to bend around the edge.

He has the frame to add on the weight but his strength and technique leave a lot to be desired. Can’t envision him being a five tech and subsequently, a good fit for the Steelers.

Best chance of success for Martin will come as a 4-3 end who is asked to shoot gaps more often than hold the point. At his best when he gets to be in control rather than two-gapping and anticipating.

At this point, more of an athlete, albeit an impressive one, than a football player. Nothing the Steelers should be interested in.

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This guy looks like he has some serous closing speed, nice athlete, but he doesn’t seem fitted to play in a 3-4 front

Bill Sechrengost

I agree. I think we would be better off with another DL that is bigger and stronger like Josh Mauro from Stanford, Taylor Hart from Oregon, or Brent Urban from Virginia. All of them are tall, big-framed bodies that should be good against the run, which is what the Steelers need. They can be had in the middle rounds, too, 3 to 5.

Lucus Rodriguez

Justin gilbert? dennard? when are you going to do one of the 1st rd corners?

Steve

In the BC game Martin is Pancaked a few times when they ran the ball. Martin has good speed and might make a good DE in the 4-3. Don’t see him being an OLB or DE in the 3-4.

Reg Sayhitodabadguy Hunt

I also want to see wr m.bryant

Lucus Rodriguez

we are still about 40 days away so I’m hoping they get to all three

Lucus Rodriguez

if this kid is still on the board in rd 3 and the Steelers don’t pick him Id be upset. No reason they cant put him at DE or run a hybrid front with him as the 4th lineman on passing down. His size and speed is too much to pass up at that point in the draft whether or not he is a scheme fit

lefnor

After the Calvin Pryor and Kouandjio analysis this is the third that imo is a poor analysis.

His technique is bad but only at 272 pounds he has the core strenght needed at the nfl. He has a lot of good plays at 5 tech not just the illustrated bad ones. He was washed out a few times because of his poor technique but when he had his hands on the lineman he was absolutely unmoveable. Nobody could move him backside.

I understand what likes the Steelers coaching staff in him. He has the built compared with surprising atleticism and the core strenght. His technique is poor, but do you remember what Mitchell said about Ta’amu?

“When he comes here we will start from scratch. He is going to play the 3-4 the way the Steelers play. I have no concern for what he did in college. That is behind him. Everything now is in front of him. He is going to come here and I’m going to teach him what we want him to get done. ”

He would be very well coached. I would like a Martin pick somewhere in the second day of the draft.

Lucus Rodriguez

the steelers have far to many guys for just depth purposes. no reason they cant have a run stuffing DE on 1st and 2nd down and bring in a specialist type for passing downs. the only change the team usually makes to the D front is taking the NT out. really good teams rotate their guys more.

Alexander Sebastian Heath

Two things: everything about this kid scream the next Antonio Smith of the Houston Texans. We remember him well when he played for the Cardinals against us in Super Bowl. Arguable, he CAN play as a DE in 3-4 but he’ll gain weights (10-15 lbs, usual for players) and develop more pass-rushing moves.

Secondly after my small research for which NFL Draft prospects were the best redzone target (random and off the topic, I know) but I found it rather interesting that Benjamin wasn’t the best redzone weapon. Not at all, Brandin Cook was! At 5’10”, he was college’s best redzone weapon! This got me very curious, will there be a profile uploaded on him? I’d love to look into him more!

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